


and some day we'll be together

by oswinry



Category: Doctor Who
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-08
Updated: 2019-01-08
Packaged: 2019-10-06 19:41:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,384
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17351387
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oswinry/pseuds/oswinry
Summary: Fic prompt from isagrimorie: "More of Thirteen and Bill Potts! (maybe with Bonus Ryan & Yaz?)"Title borrowed from "Someday We'll Be Together" by Diana Ross.





	and some day we'll be together

The Doctor has been chattering a bit too much for a bit too much long, and Ryan is getting right nervous. Course, the Doctor talks a lot anyway, so he could be reading this wrong, but he’s looking at Yaz and from her frown it’s clear she’s thinking the same thing. She’d made an offhand remark, a joke that might have been in bad taste (”As long as I don’t get killed on the Planet of the Hats, that’d be a terrible way to go!”) and the Doctor had turned white as a sheet for a moment, before grinning maniacally. (”Oh come on, planet of the hats, you ever been attacked by a hat, Yaz? Speaking of hats, I got a beautiful one on Flavin 4 not too long ago, I should see if I still have it…”)

Now she’s almost running around the console, flicking switches and pushing buttons with just a little too much verve. Ryan reckons he knows her pretty well by now - well enough to tell when she’s lying, anyway, and right now the Doctor is lying through her teeth. Question is, what about?

He wishes Graham were here - the man seems to always know when the Doctor needs space and when to push (if only he had that talent with Ryan himself), but Graham had had a doctor’s appointment and told them to go on ahead, which means that Ryan is (almost) on his own. He glances at Yaz again. She’s narrowing her eyes at him, which means she wants him to do something. He tries narrowing his eyes back (why can’t she come up with a plan?) and receives a look of withering scorn for his pains, just as the Doctor bounds over to the door and flings it open. “Planet of the Hats, for your enjoyment!” she announces. “Let’s go, gang!”

Ryan breaks his gaze and follows the Doctor out the door. Yaz falls into step beside him. “The Doctor’s being weird,” she hisses. “Is it freaking you out?”

“I don’t know, is it freaking you out?” Ryan asks noncommittally. (It is.)

“Yeah, big time. There’s Doctor-talk and then there’s nervous-Doctor-talk, and that last one never means anything good.”

“Same here,” Ryan says. “But what can we do?”

Yaz shrugs. “Follow her, like always, I suppose. Keep her out of trouble.”

Ryan laughs. “I don’t think we could keep her out of trouble if we tried. She’s too much like my nan, you know?”

A silence falls for a moment, but it’s a quiet moment of reverence, not awkwardness. Ryan thinks how happy Nan would be with this new closeness they have, and smiles a little.

Ahead, the Doctor breaks the silence. “Come on, Yaz! Come on, Ryan! Loads to see!”

The two pick up the pace, exchanging glances.

* * *

The planet, Yaz has to admit, is gorgeous. It’s window shopping, but in a (literally) planet-sized mall. Even Ryan is captivated, staring at the hats on display. He nudges her as they pass one particularly impressive one (it’s nearly six feet tall in a hideous shade of chartreuse, with what appears to be a…live hamster? perched on top. “Who d’you suppose ordered that one?”

Yaz giggles. “I dunno. Think we could get the Doctor to buy it?”

“She might if we dared her.”

“True…” Caught up in the windows, Yaz suddenly encounters the very still back of the Doctor. “Sorry, was too busy watching the hats! This planet is great, isn’t - “

She stops. The Doctor’s face is bloodless, her hands shaking, and her eyes -

For a second, Yaz is sure she sees fire reflected in the Doctor’s pupils.

The moment passes, and the Doctor’s hands still. Yaz follows her gaze to what appears to be a young couple sharing an ice cream cone a few feet away. “Doctor? What’s wrong? Are you all right?”

Ryan catches up to them and Yaz catches his arm absent-mindedly as he’s thrown off balance. “Doctor? Yaz? What’s going on?”

The Doctor doesn’t answer, still staring at the young couple. Suddenly she whirls around. “Sorry, you two. Um, I…”

(a breath. Ryan is reminded with a suddenness that leaves him breathless of Graham’s deep inhale before beginning Nan’s eulogy)

“I…need to go talk to someone. You two, _stay here_.” There’s an odd kind of rage in the Doctor’s voice, and a deep sadness. She takes off in the direction of the couple.

Yaz and Ryan exchange glances, and follow.

“Let’s go slowly,” Yaz says, watching the Doctor’s mad dash across the square. “Who knows, maybe we’re overreacting.”

“With the Doctor?”

“Yeah, okay. I still say we take it slow.”

They link arms and stroll across the plaza, trying to look as if they’re extremely interested in a tasteful sunhat and not stalking a possibly-very-old alien.

Ahead of them, the Doctor skids to a halt in front of the couple, and Yaz gives up on subtlety, staring openly. Now that they’re a little closer, there’s something weird about the two girls; they seem to shimmer at the edges, not quite there in their surroundings. Maybe they’re aliens.

The Doctor says something Yaz can’t quite make out - “Robots,” maybe? They move a little closer, Yaz straining her ears.

The person she was talking to nods, expression cautious. She asks a question.

“ - the Doctor, and if you’re - Potts - end you.”

“I am Bill Potts! And you are definitely the Doctor, you stupid overprotective idiot.” That carries loud and clear.

Yaz and Ryan throw caution to the wind and speed-walk the last few metres to the Doctor’s side. She doesn’t seem to notice them, instead staring intently at the woman. She seems frozen, reaching out with otherworldly focus. Then, slowly -

“You are Bill Potts. Bill, I - you wonderful, impossible girl - ” and suddenly she’s crying, actually _crying_ , and oh God Yaz hasn’t ever seen the Doctor cry, never dreamed she could.

The woman (Bill Potts?) drops her ice cream and hurtles out of her seat, wrapping her arms around the Doctor. “Hey, it’s me,” she says, and there are tears on her face too. “Hey. You gonna cry in front of me now?”

“M’not crying,” the Doctor sniffles, but she clings tightly to Bill anyway.

Yaz watches them for a few seconds, wanting to give them space but reluctant to leave the Doctor when she’s so obviously upset. She makes uncomfortable eye contact with the woman who was sitting next to Bill on the bench. She’s somehow picked up Bill’s ice cream from the pavement and is holding it patiently, softness in her eyes.

“Um, hello,” Yaz says. “My name’s Yaz, this is Ryan. What’s your name?”

The woman smiles and is about to answer, but the Doctor has finally noticed them and straightens, springing away from Bill. “Ah yes, introductions! Love ‘em! Yaz, Ryan, Bill, Heather,” pointing at each of them in turn. “Bill is an old friend of mine. Yaz and Ryan are my new friends! And Heather is, um, well, she was a puddle last time I saw her but evidently that’s no longer the case. So many questions! Bill, may I try your ice cream?”

“Of course that’s the question you ask. No, get your own.”

The Doctor pouts, then brightens. “Fine. Let’s all go! I’ll get you another ice cream, Bill.”

“Do you have money, Doctor?”

“Maybe. We’ll find out when we get there!” The Doctor beams at them, then starts to walk off.

Yaz and Heather shrug at each other, and they all fall into step. Bill ends up next to Ryan. She leans over to him. “Is that really the Doctor?”

“As far as I know, yeah. Why?”

“Oh, nothing really,” Bill says. “Just, she used to be taller.”

That’s a statement Ryan doesn’t really want to go into, so instead he asks, “You know her?”

“I do, or I did. A long time ago now.”

“What happened?”

A sigh. “Let’s just say…traveling with the Doctor can be dangerous.”

Ryan digests this.

“Don’t ever think it’s not worth it, though,” Bill adds. “I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.”

Ryan and Yaz both look at the Doctor’s back, sturdy enough to hold their world. And this time, they don’t need to see each other’s faces to know what the other is thinking.

They wouldn’t miss it, either.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed!  
> You can also find me on [tumblr](https://actual-bill-potts.tumblr.com).


End file.
